"To Sherlock Holmes
she is always the woman. I have seldom heard him mention her under any
other name. In his eyes she eclipses and predominates the whole of her sex....”

So begins “A
Scandal in Bohemia,” the Sherlock Holmes
adventure most beloved by female devotees of Sherlock
Holmes. Irene Adler, the “well known adventuress,” has
become an icon of feminine independence, style, and resourcefulness in the
Victorian era. One of the traditional toasts at a Sherlockian gathering is
always to “The Woman.”

“...And that was how a great scandal threatened to affect the kingdom of
Bohemia, and how the best plans of Mr. Sherlock Holmes were beaten by a woman’s
wit. He used to make merry over the cleverness of women, but I have not heard
him do it of late. And when he speaks of Irene Adler, or when he refers to her
photograph, it is always under the honourable title of the woman.”

To read the story, point and click on the title in the
second paragraph above. And by the way, Adventuresses aren't the only ones
fascinated by Irene Adler -- read more about her
here.
Some have even suggested that Irene Adler and
Aunt Clara
may have something in common.